Medical doctor X, a world-renowned physician, is paid by pharmaceutical company
ID: 470298 • Letter: M
Question
Medical doctor X, a world-renowned physician, is paid by pharmaceutical company to use the drugs it produces in X's practice. The pharmaceutical company pays all of the expenses for Dr. X, and the doctor's family too, to attend medical conferences, which are always held at expensive holiday resorts. The pharmaceutical company arranges for Dr. X to be interviewed on TV and to speak at hospitals and colleges on the benefits of the drugs, which the company produces. And the company pays the doctor to do research on those drugs and it publishes that research when it shows that their drugs are effective. Given this information, should the advice Dr. X might give about which drugs are best to use in a given situation be regarded as trustworthy? Write your response using the 12 characteristics of a trustworthy source as discussed in chapter six. How could Dr. X be a more trustworthy source? BE SPECIFIC.
Twelve Characteristics of a Trustworthy Source In summary, when evaluating a trusted source on topic X, it would be reasonable for us to trust a person (or the words of a person) who fulfills all twelve of the criteria below. 1 Learned in topic X 2 Experienced in topic X 3 Speaking about X 4 Up-to-date about X 5 Capable of explaining the basis for their claim or their advice about X 6 Unbiased 7 Truthful 8 Free of conflicts of interest 9 Acting in accord with our interests 10 Unconstrained 11 Informed about the specifics of the case at hand 12 Mentally stable
Critical thinking class
Explanation / Answer
Given the information, the advice Dr X might give about which drugs to use in a given situation should not be regarded as trustworthy. His relationship with the pharmaceutical company mentioned is the primary reason for this. Of the twelve characteristics of a trustworthy source, the following are violated in this situation.
- Unbiased: It is extremely likely that Dr. X will be biased. This is because he is likely to be biased in favour of the pharmaceutical company that virtually patronizes him.
- Free of conflict of interest: There is clearly a conflict of interest as one pharmaceutical company pays him indirectly for prescribing their products.
The above two characteristics are definitely voided. Many others are doubtful too, and thus Dr X cannot be regarded as a trustworthy source.
Some of the things that Dr X could do to be a more trustworthy source are:
- Conduct research on other drugs of other pharmacetical companies
- Start prescribing drugs from a variety of companies
- Attend conferences etc by out-of-pocket expenses so that other pharmaceutical companies are encouraged to approach him.